Kritimys

Kritimys, also known as the Cretan giant rat[1] is an extinct genus of murid rodent that was endemic to the island of Crete during the Early and Middle Pleistocene.[2] There are two known species, K. kiridus from the Early-Mid Pleistocene, and its descendant K. catreus from the Middle Pleistocene.[2] It is suggested to be closely related to and probably derived from Praomys.[3] As with most island rodents, Kritimys was larger than its mainland relatives, with its size increasing over time,[4] with K. catreus esimated to weigh 518 grams (1.142 lb), around 6.7 times the weight of its mainland ancestor, an example of island gigantism.[3] The temporal range of the genus is considered to define the regional Kritimys biozone,[2] during which time there were only two other species of mammal native to the island, a species of dwarf mammoth, Mammuthus creticus and the dwarf hippopotamus Hippopotamus creutzburgi. It became extinct during the late Middle Pleistocene, following the arrival of the Mus bateae-minotaurus lineage (which appears to be related to Mus musculus) to the island, exhibiting a decrease in size shortly before its extinction.[5]

Kritimys
Temporal range: Early - Middle Pleistocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Subfamily: Murinae
Genus: †Kritimys
Kuss & Missone, 1968
Species

K. catreus Bate, 1912
K. kiridus Bate, 1942

Synonyms
  • Mus catreus
  • Rattus kiridus

References
  1. van der Geer, Alexandra; Lyras, George; de Vos, John (April 27, 2021). Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands. Wiley. p. 534. ISBN 9781119675747.
  2. George Iliopoulos; H. Eikamp; Charalampos Fassoulas (January 2017). "A New Late Pleistocene Mammal Locality from Western Crete". Bulletin of the Geological Society of Greece. 43 (2): 918. doi:10.12681/bgsg.11257.
  3. van den Hoek Ostende, Lars W.; van der Geer, Alexandra A.E.; Wijngaarden, Carlijne L. (July 2017). "Why are there no giants at the dwarves feet? Insular micromammals in the eastern Mediterranean". Quaternary International. 445: 269–278. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2016.05.007.
  4. van der Geer, Alexandra A.; Lyras, Georgios A.; Lomolino, Mark V.; Palombo, Maria Rita; Sax, Dov F. (August 2013). Masters, Judith (ed.). "Body size evolution of palaeo-insular mammals: temporal variations and interspecific interactions". Journal of Biogeography. 40 (8): 1440–1450. doi:10.1111/jbi.12119. S2CID 37706170.
  5. Lyras, George A.; Athanassiou, Athanassios; van der Geer, Alexandra A. E. (2022), Vlachos, Evangelos (ed.), "The Fossil Record of Insular Endemic Mammals from Greece", Fossil Vertebrates of Greece Vol. 2, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 661–701, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-68442-6_25, ISBN 978-3-030-68441-9, S2CID 239841623, retrieved 2023-03-20
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